Day 6 of Living the Stoic Life!

Day six of Stoic Week: What done amiss? What done? What duty left undone?

Six Days into the Study!

Chrysippus

We’re reaching the end of the study. Keep up the good Stoic work, though! Some facts and figures… We set up a new Twitter account for @Stoicweek where we’ve been posting regular snippets and links. From zero followers at the start of the week, it now has nearly 150. You can also see a lot of chat using the Twitter hashtag #Stoicweek. The poll we set up “Who is your favourite Stoic?” has actually had the largest response with nearly 370 people having voted so far.How goes it, though? What have you learned about yourself? What problems have you encountered? What faculties or virtues has nature provided you with to deal with its demands over the week?

What done amiss? What done? What duty left undone?

What would Zeno or Socrates or Cato have done? What sort of character have you exhibited, from moment to moment? What sort of animal are you? – asked the Stoics. A wild beast (lacking philanthropy and natural affection), a herd animal (ruled by idleness and the pursuit of superficial pleasures), or a godlike Sage (full of love and yet free from irrational fear and desire)?

About what am I now employing my own soul? On every occasion I must ask myself this question, and inquire, what have I now in this part of me which they call the ruling principle? And whose soul have I now? That of a child, or of a young man, or of a feeble woman, or of a tyrant, or of a domestic animal, or of a wild beast? (Meditations, 5.11)

Quo vadis? “Where are you going” with these things? Also, on a lighter note, does anyone have any good jokes about ancient Graeco-Roman philosophy?

I am glad this forum will have an extended shelf life since we’ve barely scratched the surface of what transformation is possible with Stoicism. Some of the tenets appear in other schools of thought but I prefer the no frills directness of the philosophy. The emails were most helpful since with the handy iphone they promptly stopped my opinions about events from plaguing my thoughts. Especially in the morning. I am joyful & productive without the stale recycling of evaluating things out of my control.
I’ll have to think on a good joke. Laughter is good for all the strange strains of existence. We could all benefit from laughing at our silly behaviour while being vigilant about redirecting it.